Four arrested in heroin case

Champaign police Sgt. Tom Walker, who heads up the department's drug unit, said police began getting complaints about a month ago of traffic coming and going from a home in the 1300 block of Paula Drive.

"Through investigation, we were able to determine they were selling heroin and were able to get a search warrant," said Walker, who credited Officer Nick Krippel for his work investigating the activity there.

Walker said because of past police contacts that some of the four men had, and because there were six dogs in the house, police decided to use the SWAT team on Thursday to serve the search warrant.

Arrested were Dwight Harper, 51, who listed an address in Chicago Heights, and Davante Hopkins, 17, D'angelo Neal, 20, and Reggie Neal, 52, who all said they were from Park Forest.

Walker said the four men and six dogs, believed to be pit bulls that were being bred for fighting, had been living in the house about nine months. The dogs were taken by the animal control officer.

Walker said his officers found 39 aluminum foil folds containing suspected heroin — about 3.9 grams — $722 cash, and needles, syringes and other drug paraphernalia in the house.

None of the four listed any employment, Walker said.

On Friday, the four were charged with unlawful possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, a Class 1 felony. If convicted they face penalties ranging from probation to four to 15 years in prison.

Hopkins’ bond was set at $10,000. The bond for Harper, Reggie Neal and D’angelo Neal were all set at $50,000.

D’angelo Neal’s next court appearance was set for Nov. 20. Hopkins, Harper and Reggie Neal are scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 19.

Most likely it is Afghan heroin. And the US government has the chutzpah to "certify" other countries' anti narcotics efforts. While american soldiers die and Karzai and his kin enrich themselves on the heroin trade and off US aid, the CIA uses heroin profits to fund their covert operations.

90% of the world's heroin comes from Afghanistan. Since the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan in 2003, heroin production has doubled. Maybe the Taliban's real crime wasn't abusing its women, it was the nasty religious habit of burning the poppy fields. I wonder if police have seized any planes, helicopters, boats, international passports, discovered border security patrol contacts, or anything that would suggest the four men above brought the heroin here from Afghanistan? If not, how did the stuff make it over here to little 'ol Champaign-Urbana?

Each man arrested could spend $80,000 to $300,000 of your tax dollars watching TV in a prison. Hey, American taxpayers, how's that drug war workin' for ya?

It is so heart breaking that nothing was done about the dogs in this case. They weren't charged with anything and yet these animals still get a bad rap because of people like THIS! Pit-bulls are not the problem, their owners are. I get it, drugs are a big problem and I'm glad those are off the streets. But, so is animal cruelty and the discrimination against these misunderstood dogs. I've had 4 pitbulls and not a single one of them had a mean bone in their body. They were the most loving, playful, and loyal dogs I have ever had. I recently had to get rid of mine because my apartment complex has a policy against pitbulls alone. I find this completely ridiculous, because the only reason people are afraid of these dogs is because people like THIS exist. Do me a favor and these animals justice and charge these disgusting men for doing such an awful thing to these poor animals.

The drug war has been a huge failure. However, the law is what it is and as long as drugs are illegal and unregulated drug dealers will be criminals with all the dangerous trappings.

The economy is so bad that drug dealing becomes that much more of a temptation.

I'm very grateful to the police that worked hard to catch these folks. It is only a symptom though and it will only get worse if we continue to ignore the root causes and the economy continues to flag.

Neither republicans nor democrats really want to solve the problems of poverty for their own reasons. Dems are often criticized for keeping people in urban blight (and fairly). But what about rural poverty that exists in largely republican run areas. Is that not just as bad?

We know how to solve poverty and we know how to fix the education system, we just don't have the collective will to do either. Meanwhile, the two party system has us arguing over birth certificates and dogs on car roofs.